Abstract

This quotation from Francis Bacon might very well apply to the situation in this country as regards the brown locust. We have repaired to some extent the misfortune of being subject to sporadic plagues of Locustana pardalina (Wlk.), but we are far from having reduced it to a harmless subject under man's dominion. I propose this evening to discuss the brown locust problem very briefly from the point of view of its history as a plague and our attempts at controlling it. In particular I would like to pose certain questions which have a direct bearing on locust control policy and to answer them as accurately as we can at this stage, at the same time pointing to what I consider the most profitable lines for future research on this age-old problem.